Sorry it's been a while blog, I've been busy.
Busy doing what?
Working mostly. I started working for (but not at) the Jackson Walmart 2 weeks ago. I work in a warehouse. It is a lot more fun than I thought it'd be. I get to drive a forklift occasionally, which is a lot of fun. Kohl's is not so fun. They don't schedule us much, and it takes us a lot longer than it should to get done with adset.
Other things that happened since last I posted:
I spent last weekend in St. Louis, hanging out with Pete and Steve on their birthday and going to the City Museum (which is the coolest thing ever).
Terrence is home from Iraq (which is a good place to be home from).
I bought a pair of new shoes.
Blizzard announced Diablo 3.
I watched Life Aquatic several more times.
Pretty boring actually. Hopefully I'll have some more interesting posts later this week, but I kind of doubt it. Anyway, I think I'm going down to Brad's.
Happy Birthday, Matt B, by the way.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Not Particularly Bloggy.
I watched Rushmore last night. It's such an amazing movie. It has inspired me to do two things. Write down my idea for a shortfilm and make a list of some of my favorite uses of pop music in movies. The former is pretty much for my eyes only, but the latter will be today's blog post, so without further ado:
Matt Essner's Top Five Pop Music in Movie Moments:
First I feel like I must explain what I mean by "Pop Music in Movie Moments". What I mean is this, scenes in movies that are underscored by pop music instead of music composed for the movie. So although the appearence of the Executor accompanied by the Imperial March is an amazing bit of music and film, it doesn't count because it was composed for the film. This list will represent what I think to the finest marriages pop music and filmaking (at least as many as I can remember).
1. Rushmore Finale
This is what inspired me to make. Although there are some great musical moments in this movie (and pretty much all of Wes Anderson's movies) this one tops the list. It is a great ending to a great film.
2. A Knight's Tale: Golden Years
This movie is awesome and if you don't like it (like the movie or like the fact that it is an awesome movie) you deserve to go to prison. The same prison where all the people that shout "FREE BIRD" at concerts deserve to go. The kind of prison where they show reruns of Friends all day every day. Anyway this scene is great because of the way it seamlessly blends the chamber music into a David Bowie song. The best part is at about 1:46, when you hear Mr. Bowie sing "Angel". It's at that point you know that some seriously funk rock is about to be dropped on this here madrigal society.
3. Donnie Darko: Head Over Heels
I don't think this movie is as good as I remember it being when I watched the summer after my senior year of high school, but this scene still does it for me. The first shot of the school bus is still pretty cool. Also the in frame camera speed changes are pretty nifty, even though they've been done to death at this point (300, anyone?). Also Tears for Fears rocks your mom's face. My favorite part is when the girls are doing the celebration after they finish their dance and they're all trying to high five and miss and be like "this is totally normal, we are very self congratulatory people"
4. American Beauty: Baba O'Reilly
This one is kind of cheating but I'm going to allow it because I'm running out of ideas. This is technically the trailer, but it's still pretty awesome use of music. There's actually some pretty good songs elsewhere in the film, like the cover of "Because" at the end.
5. Big Fish: Let's Work Together
I couldn't find a clip of this one, but you'll just have to believe that if I had it would be pretty much just as awesome as the video I did link. It's been a while since I've seen this movie, but as I remember it Ewan MacGregor's character, Edward Bloom, is at a bank and he notices the man in front of him, Steve Buscemi playing himself, is an old friend of his. They start up a conversation then when Steve gets to the front of the line he pulls out a gun and robs the bank. Steve and Edward high tail it out of their in Ed's suped up Camero. The cops give chase and they end up evading them till dusk, at which point a full moon comes out and Steve Buscemi and all the cops turn into werewolves and fight a bloody, lupine battle all over the state of New Mexico. Ewan MacGregor enters the fray only when it looks like the cops might get the upper hand. He pulls out his silver broadsword and goes to town on the werewolf cops like a wombat (I'm not going to qualify this simile). Anyway, at some point during all that Canned Heat's "Let's Work Together" plays and it's pretty nifty.
This list is in no way exhaustive nor is it necessarily in any sort of order as far as quality goes. It seems like there should probably be something from a Scorcese movie on here (probably Goodfellas) , but there isn't. That's mostly my fault, but I think Marty is not without some blame blame. I could've also put about 10 more Wes Anderson scenes on here, but I didn't because I'm too lazy. You'll also notice a complete lack of scenes from Almost Famous. In your face Cameron Crowe. Even though I love the movie, it's a bit pretentious at times and it was trying a bit too hard at times to get on this list, especially the "Tiny Dancer" scene. The same goes for School of Rock (although I don't really love that movie).
Honorable mention goes to:
1. Shanghai Noon: The training montage that uses the Kid Rock song. (Kept off the list for obvious, Kid Rock related reason)
2. The entire movie Stranger than Fiction (Even though the soundtrack is pretty much all Spoon songs, I think some of them might have been written for the movie, or maybe not, either way no dice Stranger than Fiction)
3. Any movie before the 1998. Nice try older movies, but I couldn't remember any of you when I was making this list.
So yeah. That was fun.
Matt Essner's Top Five Pop Music in Movie Moments:
First I feel like I must explain what I mean by "Pop Music in Movie Moments". What I mean is this, scenes in movies that are underscored by pop music instead of music composed for the movie. So although the appearence of the Executor accompanied by the Imperial March is an amazing bit of music and film, it doesn't count because it was composed for the film. This list will represent what I think to the finest marriages pop music and filmaking (at least as many as I can remember).
1. Rushmore Finale
This is what inspired me to make. Although there are some great musical moments in this movie (and pretty much all of Wes Anderson's movies) this one tops the list. It is a great ending to a great film.
2. A Knight's Tale: Golden Years
This movie is awesome and if you don't like it (like the movie or like the fact that it is an awesome movie) you deserve to go to prison. The same prison where all the people that shout "FREE BIRD" at concerts deserve to go. The kind of prison where they show reruns of Friends all day every day. Anyway this scene is great because of the way it seamlessly blends the chamber music into a David Bowie song. The best part is at about 1:46, when you hear Mr. Bowie sing "Angel". It's at that point you know that some seriously funk rock is about to be dropped on this here madrigal society.
3. Donnie Darko: Head Over Heels
I don't think this movie is as good as I remember it being when I watched the summer after my senior year of high school, but this scene still does it for me. The first shot of the school bus is still pretty cool. Also the in frame camera speed changes are pretty nifty, even though they've been done to death at this point (300, anyone?). Also Tears for Fears rocks your mom's face. My favorite part is when the girls are doing the celebration after they finish their dance and they're all trying to high five and miss and be like "this is totally normal, we are very self congratulatory people"
4. American Beauty: Baba O'Reilly
This one is kind of cheating but I'm going to allow it because I'm running out of ideas. This is technically the trailer, but it's still pretty awesome use of music. There's actually some pretty good songs elsewhere in the film, like the cover of "Because" at the end.
5. Big Fish: Let's Work Together
I couldn't find a clip of this one, but you'll just have to believe that if I had it would be pretty much just as awesome as the video I did link. It's been a while since I've seen this movie, but as I remember it Ewan MacGregor's character, Edward Bloom, is at a bank and he notices the man in front of him, Steve Buscemi playing himself, is an old friend of his. They start up a conversation then when Steve gets to the front of the line he pulls out a gun and robs the bank. Steve and Edward high tail it out of their in Ed's suped up Camero. The cops give chase and they end up evading them till dusk, at which point a full moon comes out and Steve Buscemi and all the cops turn into werewolves and fight a bloody, lupine battle all over the state of New Mexico. Ewan MacGregor enters the fray only when it looks like the cops might get the upper hand. He pulls out his silver broadsword and goes to town on the werewolf cops like a wombat (I'm not going to qualify this simile). Anyway, at some point during all that Canned Heat's "Let's Work Together" plays and it's pretty nifty.
This list is in no way exhaustive nor is it necessarily in any sort of order as far as quality goes. It seems like there should probably be something from a Scorcese movie on here (probably Goodfellas) , but there isn't. That's mostly my fault, but I think Marty is not without some blame blame. I could've also put about 10 more Wes Anderson scenes on here, but I didn't because I'm too lazy. You'll also notice a complete lack of scenes from Almost Famous. In your face Cameron Crowe. Even though I love the movie, it's a bit pretentious at times and it was trying a bit too hard at times to get on this list, especially the "Tiny Dancer" scene. The same goes for School of Rock (although I don't really love that movie).
Honorable mention goes to:
1. Shanghai Noon: The training montage that uses the Kid Rock song. (Kept off the list for obvious, Kid Rock related reason)
2. The entire movie Stranger than Fiction (Even though the soundtrack is pretty much all Spoon songs, I think some of them might have been written for the movie, or maybe not, either way no dice Stranger than Fiction)
3. Any movie before the 1998. Nice try older movies, but I couldn't remember any of you when I was making this list.
So yeah. That was fun.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Sunday and Sunburns
I was outside a lot yesterday. My arms are hella sunburned. Dig it.
I finally caught up with QC. It's only taken me like 2 months to do it. I was reading the archives, I hit next comic, and then nothing happened. It took me a second to realize that there wasn't a next comic yet.
NAP UPDATE: Sunday June 8.
I have taken 2 naps today. I woke up at 7 this morning to practice for this week (I have to be at Wal-mart at 7am Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week). I went to mass at 7:30, bought some donuts, then when I came home I didn't really have anything to do. So I took a little nap. I woke up, ate some lunch. Read for a while, then took another nap. Naps= awesome.
I saw Kung Fu Panda last night. It was incredibly unspectacular. It wasn't a bad movie. There was nothing wrong with it. The fight scenes were actually pretty awesome. There just wasn't anything else particularly good about the movie. It wasn't very funny. The "five masters" that are all over the previews aren't really in the movie much (I'm pretty sure they could have just gotten all of Jackie Chan's dialogue from other movies, he had like five lines and they were pretty generic). The thing about the movie that impressed me the most was a complete lack of fart jokes, which, it seems like are mandatory for all non Disney/Pixar animated films, and which are my least favorite brand of bodily function humor (my favorite type is vomit; see Mafia and Team America).
I'm going to try to get off work on Thursday to go see the Raconteurs. We'll see how that goes. We're supposed to ask off weeks in advance at Kohls, but the way I see it is since when people take off on adset they don't schedule people to work for them, the result would be the same if I asked off tomorrow as if I had asked off a month ago. Besides we have three new people now, so if I'm off we're still up 2 compared to the last month or so. Although Crystal's probably off on Thursday too, because she doesn't work Thursdays, Wednesdays, some Saturdays, an occasional Monday, and every other Friday.
Anyway, I'm going to try to convince myself to go for a bikeride.
I finally caught up with QC. It's only taken me like 2 months to do it. I was reading the archives, I hit next comic, and then nothing happened. It took me a second to realize that there wasn't a next comic yet.
NAP UPDATE: Sunday June 8.
I have taken 2 naps today. I woke up at 7 this morning to practice for this week (I have to be at Wal-mart at 7am Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week). I went to mass at 7:30, bought some donuts, then when I came home I didn't really have anything to do. So I took a little nap. I woke up, ate some lunch. Read for a while, then took another nap. Naps= awesome.
I saw Kung Fu Panda last night. It was incredibly unspectacular. It wasn't a bad movie. There was nothing wrong with it. The fight scenes were actually pretty awesome. There just wasn't anything else particularly good about the movie. It wasn't very funny. The "five masters" that are all over the previews aren't really in the movie much (I'm pretty sure they could have just gotten all of Jackie Chan's dialogue from other movies, he had like five lines and they were pretty generic). The thing about the movie that impressed me the most was a complete lack of fart jokes, which, it seems like are mandatory for all non Disney/Pixar animated films, and which are my least favorite brand of bodily function humor (my favorite type is vomit; see Mafia and Team America).
I'm going to try to get off work on Thursday to go see the Raconteurs. We'll see how that goes. We're supposed to ask off weeks in advance at Kohls, but the way I see it is since when people take off on adset they don't schedule people to work for them, the result would be the same if I asked off tomorrow as if I had asked off a month ago. Besides we have three new people now, so if I'm off we're still up 2 compared to the last month or so. Although Crystal's probably off on Thursday too, because she doesn't work Thursdays, Wednesdays, some Saturdays, an occasional Monday, and every other Friday.
Anyway, I'm going to try to convince myself to go for a bikeride.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Bottle Rocket and other things
I saw Bottle Rocket last night. It is definitely my least favorite Wes Anderson movie, and I'm going to go ahead and say it's his worst film. It is amazing how much better Rushmore is than Bottle Rocket. It's also amazing that James Caan is in Bottle Rocket, and how unsuited to a Wes Anderson movie he is.
So I called Brian to talk about the 48 hour film festival yesterday and he told me that we are on the waiting list to be in the festival. He doesn't really know what the means, but he doesn't think we're going to get in, which kind of blows.
In other sleep related news, I'm kind of tired.
Plan for today:
Go to Library
Go to interview at Target (probably not take the job if they offer me one, unless it's ridiculously good)
Eat lunch
Come home
Nap/run
Read
Eat
Work
Come home
Sleep
So.... TO THE LIBRARY!
So I called Brian to talk about the 48 hour film festival yesterday and he told me that we are on the waiting list to be in the festival. He doesn't really know what the means, but he doesn't think we're going to get in, which kind of blows.
In other sleep related news, I'm kind of tired.
Plan for today:
Go to Library
Go to interview at Target (probably not take the job if they offer me one, unless it's ridiculously good)
Eat lunch
Come home
Nap/run
Read
Eat
Work
Come home
Sleep
So.... TO THE LIBRARY!
Monday, June 02, 2008
Been a long time
It's been a while since I've posted. I blame the government. Actually I blame work, cause I've been doing a lot of that lately. Sort of. Anyway, it looks like I'm going to get a job at Wal-mart (pending a drug test). It'll be about 40 hours a week, which I like, but it's not permanent, which I'm not too thrilled about, but the guy who interviewed me, this really cool guy named Tim, said that if I work hard etc, when a permanent job opens up I have a better chance of getting it as a temp employee than a non employee. So yeah. New job and new DVD player that's two things off the list.
Sorry, this is going to be a short post. I've got to got work on number 5 on the list, followed by some number 6, and maybe a little 8 later this afternoon. (7 is pretty much a given. It's going to happen at some point, whether I want it to or not).
Sorry, this is going to be a short post. I've got to got work on number 5 on the list, followed by some number 6, and maybe a little 8 later this afternoon. (7 is pretty much a given. It's going to happen at some point, whether I want it to or not).
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